Alex Murdaugh faces more than 100 counts after new tax evasion charges (Picture: TNS)
A disgraced lawyer who is accused of killing his wife and son has also been charged with tax evasion.
South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh, 54, is facing nine new counts of trying to evade taxes. The charges on Friday accuse him of attempting to avoid close to $487,000 in state income taxes. They up the counts against him to more than 100.
Murdaugh allegedly shot his wife, Maggie, and his son, Paul, at their home in Colleton County last year to cover up financial criminal acts. Murdaugh has pleaded not guilty to the killings. His trial is scheduled to start in late January 2023, with prosecutors saying they will seek life in prison.
The latest charges concern Murdaugh’s tax returns from 2011 to 2019 which show that he earned almost $14million as a lawyer at Peters, Murdaugh, Parker, Eltzroth & Detrick. The state attorney general’s office is arguing that Murdaugh also stole nearly $7million that was supposed to go to their law firm.
South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh has been charged with murder in connection with the mysterious 2021 deaths of his wife and son (Picture: AP)
If convicted, Murdaugh faces up to five years in prison on each tax evasion count.
Past charges against Murdaugh primarily deal with him allegedly stealing $8.8million in settlement money from injured clients and family of victims killed on the job, or a drug and money laundering scheme. Murdaugh has been hit with close to two dozen indictments since September 2021.
Last week, prosecutors argued that Murdaugh’s financial issues prompted him to murder his wife and son because was afraid that his schemes would soon be uncovered. Prosecutors believe that Murdaugh thought that the deaths of his family members would draw focus and give him more time to hide his deeds.
‘This is a white-collar case that culminated in murders,’ state grand jury chief prosecutor Creighton Waters told Circuit Judge Clifton Newman.
But Murdaugh’s defense attorney has argued that he knew better than to bring attention to his personal life and family.
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South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh allegedly shot his wife and son to cover up financial crimes.
